Your news
Commonwealth Scots and the Great War
St Paul’s Muirhouse
Five arrests following Tollcross robbery
Dusherra Festival 2014
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Next week is the last chance to see Common Cause: Commonwealth Scots and the Great War at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.
The free exhibition, which finishes on Sunday 12 October, examines the lives and stories of soldiers of Scottish descent who served for the Commonwealth nations during the First World War.
It shows how objects can reflect plural identities and profound war experiences, from the Victoria Cross presented to an Ulster Scot who fought for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to the springbok ‘Nancy’, mascot of the 4th South African infantry (also known as the South African Scottish).
In 1914, as the world prepared for war, thousands of men in Scotland enlisted for military service. But across the world, in the countries of the British Empire where Scottish emigrants had settled, thousands more joined up. Men of Scottish birth and kin became part of the armed forces of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Meanwhile, in the great cities of England, resident Scotsmen joined local battalions which expressed traditional Scottish military identity.
Through poignant objects on loan from some of the countries where Scots had made new lives, as well as newsreel footage and photography, the exhibition explores how war and loss was experienced and commemorated in different parts of the Commonwealth.
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It appears that it is too late to save St Paul’s RC church in Muirhouse, North Edinburgh.
A petition was set up earlier this year but has had little effect as the church has decided it can no longer afford to keep it open. In June this year the Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh , The Most Reverend Leo Cushley wrote an open letter to the parishioners advising that the building itself had been ‘a very unhappy investment.’ He wrote: “The church attached to the house has continued to cost you and your fellow parishioners down the years hundreds of thousands of pounds, even now there is the urgent question of the updating of the heating system at a further considerable cost.”
He started off by saying that there was no priest who could come to the parish to replace the existing incumbent Mgr Brian Halloran who cannot continue indefinitely. But in light of the declining number of parishioners, and given the proximity of other churches at St Margaret’s and St Margaret Mary’s the parish will be merged with others nearby.
The final service is to be held there on 10 October 2014.
Following Thursday’s armed robbery at the Tollcross branch of RBS Police Scotland can confirm that five males were arrested and charged in connection with the robbery and appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday.
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Remember the Dusherra Festival takes place on Calton Hill tomorrow afternoon. More here.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
